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For me, it's not so much noise but temperature and air freshness. I don't know why but if the stale is a tad too stale in my home office I just get distracted a

For me, it's not so much noise but temperature and air freshness. I don't know why but if the stale is a tad too stale in my home office I just get distracted and can't focus well so I wind up opening the window before starting work so I can freshen the air and then close it to minimize the amount of city noises from creeping in. But I'll also say sound is important as well. It's why I like having a more clicky keyboard although my office mates are probably frustrated by my preference. A little bit of noise in the background is nice whereas full-on chatter pretty much puts my work to a stop.

Karawebnetwork 5y ago
Have you ever tried to monitor your CO2 levels? I thought it was all about temperature until I got one and learned that my home office climbs up to 2500 ppm. At this level, it creates: "Fatigue, loss of focus and concentration, uncomfortable 'stuffy' feeling in the air"
- ssully 5y ago
  I worked with a group whose office was basically a big supply area converted into an office to hold around 7 cubicles. Zero windows, and while I am sure the HVAC system cycled in fresh air, I doubt it was enough because by lunch time I was ready to fall asleep whenever I worked in there. Biggest perk of working from home was having control over my environment. Because of that, I think I feel the best I have in years.
- oldie 5y ago
  2500ppm? Good grief. I notice a slight blunting of my mental edge at about 1000ppm. I always maintain enough ventilation to keep below about 800ppm. I don't guess; I monitor. At work, in our delapidated office, I've seen up to 1800ppm by lunchtime. No wonder no one can concentrate in there. It's not cheap, but you can buy heat-recovery ventilation for domestic properties: stale air is pumped out, fresh air is pumped in, and there's a heat-exchanger to warm the incoming air. Typically, air is extracted from rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms and toilets (so that you expel moisture, smoke and odours) and pumped into living spaces such as lounges, dining rooms and bedrooms. It doesn't provide enough air changes per hour to mitigate the danger from Covid-19, but it does do enough to keep CO2 levels down where you want them, and it avoids arguments with people who want to close all the windows and doors because they "don't like a draught".
  - Karawebnetwork 5y ago
    In the summer, I managed to have my apartment at 800ppm. But come fall we need to close the windows since it's too cold outside and 1200ppm is the new normal. I open all the windows once a day to create a draft and it drops to 600-800ppm. But by then, I need to close them all again to reheat the apartment. This has the side effects of getting rid of all the humidity in the apartment and then the heating makes the situation even worst. Most people I know go the entire winter without ever opening any windows. I wonder what their CO2 levels are.

Karawebnetwork 5y ago

Have you ever tried to monitor your CO2 levels? I thought it was all about temperature until I got one and learned that my home office climbs up to 2500 ppm. At this level, it creates: "Fatigue, loss of focus and concentration, uncomfortable 'stuffy' feeling in the air"

ssully 5y ago
I worked with a group whose office was basically a big supply area converted into an office to hold around 7 cubicles. Zero windows, and while I am sure the HVAC system cycled in fresh air, I doubt it was enough because by lunch time I was ready to fall asleep whenever I worked in there. Biggest perk of working from home was having control over my environment. Because of that, I think I feel the best I have in years.
oldie 5y ago
2500ppm? Good grief. I notice a slight blunting of my mental edge at about 1000ppm. I always maintain enough ventilation to keep below about 800ppm. I don't guess; I monitor. At work, in our delapidated office, I've seen up to 1800ppm by lunchtime. No wonder no one can concentrate in there. It's not cheap, but you can buy heat-recovery ventilation for domestic properties: stale air is pumped out, fresh air is pumped in, and there's a heat-exchanger to warm the incoming air. Typically, air is extracted from rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms and toilets (so that you expel moisture, smoke and odours) and pumped into living spaces such as lounges, dining rooms and bedrooms. It doesn't provide enough air changes per hour to mitigate the danger from Covid-19, but it does do enough to keep CO2 levels down where you want them, and it avoids arguments with people who want to close all the windows and doors because they "don't like a draught".
- Karawebnetwork 5y ago
  In the summer, I managed to have my apartment at 800ppm. But come fall we need to close the windows since it's too cold outside and 1200ppm is the new normal. I open all the windows once a day to create a draft and it drops to 600-800ppm. But by then, I need to close them all again to reheat the apartment. This has the side effects of getting rid of all the humidity in the apartment and then the heating makes the situation even worst. Most people I know go the entire winter without ever opening any windows. I wonder what their CO2 levels are.